Friday, December 28

The Return of Ray-Ray

Seriously, screw you guys.

Ray Allen returned to Seattle last night, but he was playing for the wrong team:

KeyArena has seen better nights from Ray Allen.

But unlike when the Boston Celtics star played for the Sonics, his off shooting night didn't matter. He had an assembly of star-studded teammates to rely on as the Celtics collected a 104-96 NBA victory in front of a sellout crowd of 17,072.

Allen played his first game in Seattle since being traded on draft day for fifth overall pick Jeff Green and veterans Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West. Allen was treated to two standing ovations — for his community service in a pregame ceremony and during player introductions.

Ray Allen was one of my all-time favorite Sonics and I wish him the best, but after getting traded from worst to first, I hope he at least sent a Christmas card to Wonder Boy this year. After all, the out-right tanking and sabotage of our Sonics by Presti and company might finally give Ray-Ray a much deserved ring. At least something nice can come out of this debacle.

3 comments:

I have a different view of Presti actions. I believe he has made a geniune efforts to improve the team for the future.I know it is hard to look through the polluted waters ownership has made, but this team is now heading in a direction that is promising.

First off, Lewis was going to leave. He knew Seattle wouldn't match what he could get on the open market. The fact that Presti turned Lewis into a "sign-and-trade" and then into Thomas and a few draft picks was pretty remarkable. By the time we deal Thomas in a few months, we could have 3 first round picks and a few second round picks instead of nothing.

In terms of the Ray Allen situation; I love the guy. I don't think we got nearly enough for him. However, even with him we still would be on the lower end of the division. I agree with the assessment to trade him, I just wished we could have gotten Jefferson or a future 1st round pick in addition to the 5 pick, West, and Wally.

With Utah, Denver, and the strength of the West in general; there is no way the Sonics can compete with the roster of the last two years. The arena and relocation issue aside; there were some serious flaws with this team. The team was basically this: Three horrible first-round picks who weren’t even close to NBA ready or capable that eat up about $7 million of cap room (Swift, Petro, Sene); four bad, mid-level, long-term contracts with players who have disappointed who eat up about $25 million of cap room (Watson, Wilcox, Ridnour, Collison); two end of the bench swingmen who have pretty good contract (Gelebale and Wilkins about $4 million combined); and two good scorers who cannot play defense (Lewis and Allen making about $24 million combined.)

What Presii did was subtract Lewis and Allen and add a potential perennial All Star (Durant who we still were going to get but still); two young solid pieces (West and Green); two appealing expiring contracts over the next two years (Thomas this year and Sczerbiak next); and two more first round picks and two more second round picks. If that don’t sound like a sound rebuilding into a future contender, I don’t know what is.

I agree with what Presti has done so far. The product might not be pretty now, but the team will have flexibility and potential to build into something great in the coming years.

If anything, this beats the last few years where there seemed to be no plan other than vain patchwork to keep the team afloat. I just hope the team is here when all the pieces come together.